$7.39 MILLION IS PAID FOR EARLY PICASSO

An anonymous American collector paid $7.39 million at auction for an early cubist painting by Pablo Picasso, "Woman Sitting in an Armchair," Christie's auction house said.

The painting, which Picasso started in 1917 and completed in 1920, is thought to be modeled on Olga Kokhlova, daughter of a Russian general and a dancer whom Picasso met in Rome and married in 1918, Christie's said.The auction house said it was bought by an American collector bidding by telephone who wished to remain anonymous.